In many kinds of sporting or other competitions, the audience often does not get the experience they might want. In some cases, this can be because there is no way for the audience to participate or interact with the competition, to know who achieves a qualification or scores in an event, or to know the score or projected score of the competition. Many times, however, the audience is simply not provided with enough information to fully understand the competition and enjoy it.
This can be especially true in sports such as swimming, diving, track and field, speed skating, rowing, tennis, auto racing, downhill skiing and other sports where a lack of inter-activity with and among the audience makes it difficult to understand the qualification and scoring process and to project meaningfully what the score might be under various performance outcomes and in this way to know what is going on. Such information however, could serve to increase the audience awareness, participation and interest in the event or heat. A particular problem exists in timed race competitions such as age group, high school and college dual meet and championship meets, zone meets and championships, national championships and international meets and championships including the Olympics, professional competitions and other group or governing body sponsored competitions such as the United States Olympic Committee (“USOC”), the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”), USA Swimming (“USA Swimming”), YMCA, and National Governing Bodies, Organizations, and Associations such as Ligue Europeene do Natation (“LEN”), the American Swim Coaches Association (“ASCA”), the National Collegiate Athletic Association and United States Masters Swimming (“USMS”), in the United States and in other countries around the world, where it is possible that there can be many participants competing over a considerable length of time.
This can be problematic in timed race competitions such as swimming competitions where each event within the competition involves a series of smaller or preliminary races known as “heats”. In some such events, which are called “timed finals”, f multiple heats are run for a particular event and the places scored are based on the fastest heat times. In such cases there are no semi-finals, finals and the like, but instead that the final event results are determined solely by the heat times. In a “timed final” competition, it is very difficult for the audience to know which competitors are in the lead and in what rank they are in the list of competitors that compete.
In addition, while the individual competitors' selected split times, sometimes with cumulative times, are sometimes displayed during the performance of the heat and the final heat time displayed at the conclusion of each heat, there is no ability to customize the split times which an audience member may wish to see nor is there a calculated time comparison between the performances of the current heat and previous heat(s), how the competitor ranks among the performers of previous heats based on the split and total time of each progressive heat and actual and proforma calculated participating team/country scores and/or medal count based on the performances up to that point in the event and/or overall competition and potentially, the projected scores based on the results of the heats and the projection of team scores based on heat results.
In a timed event involving multiple heats which are used to qualify competitors for semi-final or finals heats, it can be similarly quite difficult for the audience to know where an athlete stands relative to their best split (the time for a particular lap split), total times and split times of other competitors (and record performances), and the score and projected score in the event and in the meet as a whole, as the event progresses. This is because after each heat, the times and places are typically posted for that particular heat, but the current best qualifier “times to beat” and related scores are not calculated or displayed the audience. It is often not until the entire event is over that various semi-finals, consolation finals and finals qualifiers are displayed.
In addition, often record performances on lead-off legs of a relay may not be displayed to the audience. For example, in the 2000 Olympics, the lead-off leg of the 4×100 meter free relay, the Australian lead-off swimmer, Michael Klim, set a new world record in the 100 M Free, which was displayed as a time but not a new World Record (“WR”) to the audience until the conclusion of the relay. Had the new WR been announced immediately, it would have added immeasurably to the audience's enjoyment of the event.
Individual competitor best times, record times and relative competitor performances are not calculated or displayed in real time (immediately as they happen) and therefore are not known. But in many intramural sports, and age group and collegiate and open swimming and track meets and events, for example, various audience members such as supporters, friends, and family of an athlete are very interested in learning the relative performance in terms of best times and whether they qualify for finals, other zone meet, championship and/or Olympic competitions, or awards during a heat or an event or immediately thereafter.
In team competitions, including but not limited to dual meets, tri-meets, double dual meets and championship meets, certain competitors may qualify for either Bonus, Consolation and Final heats, and team points are awarded for the position which competitors finish. By knowing how many competitors qualify for the various final heats and the position in which they qualified, it is possible to create a proforma event result and projected meet score prior to the actual finals heats being run. In this way, it is possible for the audience to know not only a projected meet score, but also to have a projection of how their competitors would have to place to move their team up in the overall meet score standings and/or to win.
Similarly, such data and scoring could be provided to the audience for sports such as diving and for other sports where scoring or timing of multiple competitors is complex and the overall place and related meet or competition score can not easily be comprehended by the audience or where the data is not displayed during the event in real time or immediately thereafter.
Without such real time comparative information, a frustrating situation arises, where it is difficult for a the audience to become knowledgeable enough to be fully engaged in the experience because they cannot know if an individual swimmer, as an example, has a currently qualifying time for finals, consolation finals, bonus finals and the like, as the heats are run sequentially. A competitor could be achieving split times during their heat that are close to or exceeding the best time in the previous heats, or even a historical record time, and the audience would be largely unaware until the heat is concluded. Without this real time data and information, including calculated projections, there is no way to know the importance of particular competitor's performances or the related projected meet score. This represents an incredible missed opportunity for a coach in planning his/her entries for a meet and for any audience member, but perhaps especially a supporter to experience the thrill of the event in real time and to support their favored competitor, and can diminish the audience's engagement with the event or the sport.
A related problem exists, where splits which are displayed for each competitor are typically displayed for incremental splits which may not be relevant to the event, requiring coaches and the audience to manually add splits to calculate relevant splits for a particular event.
In order to more fully provide engagement with such sporting events, the audience needs an information dashboard that changes the notion of times and data into real time and summary information to enhance the entertainment experience and minimize the need to manually calculate split or lap times in order to rank the performances of competitors in a meaningful way and to calculate event and/or continually updated meet scores both after a particular event or on a proforma basis.
Technologies for managing and presenting sporting event information are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,955,542 to Roncalez et al. discloses a system for monitoring athlete movement, where movement and timing data is communicated to the swimmer, coaches, and the audience via a display module. However, Roncalez et al. do not teach comparing timing data or related event and meet scores across heats or with historical information.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0112536 to Frayman discloses a system for recording and delivering sports activity analysis via e.g. a cellular telephone. However, Frayman does not teach comparing timing data or related event and meet scores across heats or with historical information.
US Patent Publication No. 2005/0272020 to McGregor et al. discloses a sporting event logistics system for use by a spectator. A map of a sporting venue with predetermined rendezvous locations marked is provided so that the user is informed when and where to cheer and support a specified participant. The predetermined rendezvous locations are determined with reference to a specific participant's speed or pace, the rate at which the spectator can travel from rendezvous location to rendezvous location, and the availability of viewing locations, public transportation, proximity of restrooms, and the course between rendezvous locations. However, McGregor et al. do not teach comparing timing data or related event and meet scores across heats or with historical information.
US Patent Publication No. 2004/0158638 to Peters et al. discloses conveying event data to a spectator's mobile interface device. A spectator may receive historical as well as current data regarding teams and players participating in a sporting event. However, Peters et al. do not teach comparing timing data or related event and meet scores across heats or with historical information.
US Patent Publication No. 2003/0014275 to Bearden, III et al. discloses distributing real-time data, including commentary and event related data to the audience of a sporting event via hand-held computer, and for enabling the attendees to participate in interactive activities and polling while at the sporting event. However, Bearden, III et al. do not teach comparing timing data or related event and meet scores across heats or with historical information.
It is therefore desired to provide a system and method which addresses these deficiencies.